Kwang-chih Chang (1931–2001)

Kwang-chih Chang was a Chinese-American archaeologist and anthropologist whose work helped establish the modern comparative study of Chinese prehistory. Teaching at Yale and Harvard, he connected archaeological evidence with anthropology, ritual, political authority and the formation of early states.

A particularly influential element of Chang’s interpretation was his emphasis on shamanic mediation in ancient Chinese politics and religion. He argued that privileged access to ancestors and supernatural powers was central to elite authority, a model sometimes summarised as the view that ancient China was a shamanic state. This formulation represents Chang’s interpretive framework rather than an uncontested description of all early Chinese societies.